I ~think~ I have enough laptop batteries for the "severe weather" coming my way

Batteries and Chargers Rechargeable Batteries
1

Here are most of the good batteries I took from soon-to-be recycled batteries from work, all dell laptop batteries:

They currently have charges ranging from 4.08v to 4.20v. One particular battery pack had all of them charged to 4.25v so I drained all of them a bit and charged them back up to a more reasonable and longer lasting 4.16v on average with this charger (of course they lose a bit of of that over time.)

Charged w/ my xtar wp2 II (love it!). it’s been fun so far looking at the different brands that come with the different battery packs and their internal construction. :slight_smile:

There is some severe weather coming our way, at least I’ll be able to light things up for awhile if need be. :stuck_out_tongue:

http://www.weather.com/news/weather-severe/severe-weather-tracker

2

Nice finds. :) I know the red ones are 2600 mah do you know what type the other ones are?

3

Red
Nkmm4e9
109210

Tan
Lgabc11865
J321kw77a7

Pink
Icr18650-26d
Samsung sdi
2a14

Can anyone identify these and their particular specs?

4

I will do it when I get back in an hour or two.

5

Ah, very cool. If you have a DB you’ve collected that’s one thing, but if there is a certain skill other than just googling the identification, please let me know. I actually started a new thread to be more specific. Thanks!

6

The red ones are 2600 mah ones, the tan ones are these. (2800 mah)

http://www.megabatteries.com/item_details2.asp?id=15994&cat_id=207&uid=1397

The pink ones are also 2600 mah. I just have a large collection of them and I generally scan through the google results to double check.

7

Love it! Not a bad feature to have when there is an impending storm and possibility to lose power, eh?

8

Do they all have the same discharge current? To the best of your knowledge?

9

Nice battery score! If you don’t have a hobby charger get one to check capacity.

Good read.

10

The red ones are rated for 2C or 5.2 amps max continuous discharge.

The tan ones can do 5 amps.

The pink ones also can do 5.2 amps.

11

I am happy w/ my xtar charger at this time. My rule of thumb is not to drain them below 3.6v and if their resting capacity after a charge cannot hold 4v, recycle it. Seems reasonable?

12

Ah, so my Fandyfire HD2011 (if it ever gets here, damn back order) is said to draw 3.8 - 4.7a so I assume I’m covered. Thanks very much for the info. If I uncover any other battery types during my travels, I’ll certainly let you know.

13

I would recycle it if it can't hold 4.1 after a charge. Of course that assumes your charger terminates at 4.2. Sadly mine terminates are 4.11.

14

Which light do you plan to put them in if the weather blacks out everything 8) ?

15

The Xtar charges to 4.16 generally. While not 4.2, it will make the cells last longer and I knew this going in so I’m ok with it.

16

I only have one 18650 light at this time, a Cree C8 XM-L I bought for throw while on my bicycle commute:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/320947591814?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&\_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

It pulls 2a on high which was exactly what I wanted for my 30min commute.

The FandyFire HD2011 will be my EDC when it gets here and helmet light as it is floody. I’ll run that on medium during my commute as reports say it pulls 1.8a. We shall see!

17

Those numbers are based on new batteries. The only way is to check capacity and draw amperage on each used cell. Voltage or the ability to hold voltage has nada to do with either. But one piece of advise is NOT to mix cells from different packs. Generally cells from the same pack are matched but without knowing capacity or condition of used cells a guess at best. This is just friendly knowledge, do as you please.

18

I have used the red ones in my DRY which draws 4.5 amps on high and they do perfectly fine. Albeit I had tested them on a hobby charger and they all had similar capacity.

Actually, as I understand it the ability to hold voltage does have something to do with it. Old bad cells generally have a higher internal resistance and thus self discharge quicker.

I do agree with you and I think it would be a bad idea to run those cells in series because you did not keep track of which packs they came from and their voltage.

19

The tan ones have charging voltage of 4.3V, so if you found them charged to 4.25V, that’s perfectly fine.

20

I only use single cell lights, so no mixing here. Thanks for the advice.